Rails - Jul 2006 - Not accepting nil values in fields when CREATING a record

Hello,

I have a question for you.
In my application, I want to make sure that the database doesn''t have 
any NULLs in fields.
I can''t use validates_presence_of, because it will puke if
there''s an
empty string ("")

So... is there an EASY way to check if a list of fields is null?
Right now, I''m doing:

def validate()
[...]
       errors.add(:mailing_middle_name, "cannot be nil") if 
mailing_middle_name.nil?
       errors.add(:company, "cannot be nil") if company.nil?
       errors.add(:address_line_2, "cannot be nil") if 
address_line_2.nil?
[...]
end

But it''s ugly.
Plus, I realise that passing "nil" is a nice way NOT to specify every 
single value when you update a record.

So... to expand my previous question, is there a way to prevent nil 
values when an object is CREATED, but then allow them (which measn 
"don''t touch whatever is there") when it''s updated?

Am I missing something very obvious? :-D

Merc.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

I think the better way, you can use condition to check for nil fields..
For example: field1 = field1==nil?'''':field1
in this case, if it is nil, field1 will get empty string instead.

Socheat



Tony Mobily wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have a question for you.
> In my application, I want to make sure that the database doesn''t
have
> any NULLs in fields.
> I can''t use validates_presence_of, because it will puke if
there''s an
> empty string ("")
> 
> So... is there an EASY way to check if a list of fields is null?
> Right now, I''m doing:
> 
> def validate()
> [...]
>        errors.add(:mailing_middle_name, "cannot be nil") if 
> mailing_middle_name.nil?
>        errors.add(:company, "cannot be nil") if company.nil?
>        errors.add(:address_line_2, "cannot be nil") if 
> address_line_2.nil?
> [...]
> end
> 
> But it''s ugly.
> Plus, I realise that passing "nil" is a nice way NOT to specify
every
> single value when you update a record.
> 
> So... to expand my previous question, is there a way to prevent nil 
> values when an object is CREATED, but then allow them (which measn 
> "don''t touch whatever is there") when it''s
updated?
> 
> Am I missing something very obvious? :-D
> 
> Merc.

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

i think this will work too:

field1 = field1 || ''''

Socheat Yi wrote:
> I think the better way, you can use condition to check for nil fields..
> For example: field1 = field1==nil?'''':field1
> in this case, if it is nil, field1 will get empty string instead.
>
> Socheat
>
>
>
> Tony Mobily wrote:
>   
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have a question for you.
>> In my application, I want to make sure that the database
doesn''t have
>> any NULLs in fields.
>> I can''t use validates_presence_of, because it will puke if
there''s an
>> empty string ("")
>>
>> So... is there an EASY way to check if a list of fields is null?
>> Right now, I''m doing:
>>
>> def validate()
>> [...]
>>        errors.add(:mailing_middle_name, "cannot be nil") if 
>> mailing_middle_name.nil?
>>        errors.add(:company, "cannot be nil") if company.nil?
>>        errors.add(:address_line_2, "cannot be nil") if 
>> address_line_2.nil?
>> [...]
>> end
>>
>> But it''s ugly.
>> Plus, I realise that passing "nil" is a nice way NOT to
specify every
>> single value when you update a record.
>>
>> So... to expand my previous question, is there a way to prevent nil 
>> values when an object is CREATED, but then allow them (which measn 
>> "don''t touch whatever is there") when it''s
updated?
>>
>> Am I missing something very obvious? :-D
>>
>> Merc.
>>     
>
>
>